Shuttle Launch recorded from plane

[Ydoow]

Just stumbled across this beautiful/incredible video

[nhnifong]

That was faster than any of my launches to orbit...

[ddavis425]

That really is amazing. I wonder if they knew the shuttle would be launching during the flight?

[Ydoow]

That really is amazing. I wonder if they knew the shuttle would be launching during the flight?

I believe so. You can hear the pilot say something about "you can't complain about being late now since you voted on it." or something to that effect.

I love the pilot in the beginning though

"Those of you on the right side of the plane can see the shuttle launching. Those of you on the left side can probably see the people on the right side watching the shuttle launch" XD

[Menecroth]

That was really cool to watch. I'm kinda surprised a plane would be allowed to fly that close to a launch, just in case something went horribly wrong, but I'm glad they allowed it.

[mustwinfull]

It would of been amazing if I could of seen it from that vantage point, I mean what a great view that they have of a space shuttle launch. Lucky them, especially since the space shuttles have retired and are just about to rest in museums.

[KingAirDriver]

But but but....they didn't go straight up to 40000m, then turn 90* and fly horizontally?! Shenanigans!!

[Tauge]

I believe so. You can hear the pilot say something about "you can't complain about being late now since you voted on it." or something to that effect.

I love the pilot in the beginning though

"Those of you on the right side of the plane can see the shuttle launching. Those of you on the left side can probably see the people on the right side watching the shuttle launch" XD

I remember reading about this shortly after I first saw it posted. They knew that the flight would be passing Kennedy around the time that the launch would be happening. The pilot asked if everyone was ok with waiting to see if it would launch, they were.

That was really cool to watch. I'm kinda surprised a plane would be allowed to fly that close to a launch, just in case something went horribly wrong, but I'm glad they allowed it.

The plane is actually quite some distance from the launch site, it's difficult to estimate (especially with the cloud cover) but I'd put them somewhere between Deland and Lake George and Crescent Lake. The exclusion zone is primarily off the coast, and there are numerous safety measures to minimize danger to people on land during any launch. All launches are confirmed to have a kill switch (for lack of the correct term), operated by the Range Safety Officer (a US Air Force Officer), where the rocket is destroyed if something goes terribly wrong. The orbiters were never equipped with such devices, but the SRBs and the external tank are. During the Challenger disaster, after the SRBs had begun their out of control flight, the RSO chose destroy them both rather than allow them to pose a threat to land. Another interesting factoid, the RSO is not considered a flight controller.

And I've gone rather off subject....

I was lucky to live in Melbourne, Fl during those last few flights and got to see them all, albeit from a much further distance than I would have liked.